Testing

I had the opportunity to take a few photos yesterday using the Sony a57 and Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss Lens on the way to pick up Layla. I left the camera in Jpeg mode fine as I have a feeling the raw files won’t work for a few weeks or so based on past history with Lightroom 😉 No big deal as Jpegs look awesome off the Sony’s in general, and are usually vibrant and sharp. A bit over-processed I would argue, but I’m a raw shooter and used to processing myself as you know if your a regular reader. Raw is the way to go if you have to time to develop as you can get more out of the photo than the camera can if you have the skills!! Check out this video on developing Sony Raw files if your interested in finding out more. (Click Here)

Firmware Update:

I took this first set of photos before the firmware update just to let you know, but I downloaded the new firmware and will install it asap!! If you need the firmware update for the A57, (Click Here)

Sample Photos:

Here’s a few snapshots I took using the New Superior Auto mode. It basically adds the AutoHDR feature and a few other features to the intelligent auto mode. So far I like it, and makes using the camera almost brainless really.

Just to let you know I exported these full res jpegs from lightroom at 65% quality, 1200px, and are untouched unless otherwise specified in the image caption just below the photo.

This first shot is a orange flower that Michele and I planted the other day on the deck. Note how vibrant the colors are in comparison to the Fuji X-Pro 1 camera (Click Here) I just reviewed.

This next image was an excavator that was parked on the side of the road posed nicely. It also had a really high contrast sky for a background and I had the camera set to that superior auto mode don’t forget.

Next we have a nice landscape scene where you see that Spring is well on it’s way where I live, and the colors are really starting to blossom. The A57 was once again in the superior auto mode doing all the work. The Dynamic Range that the A57 is able to capture is incredible!! Look at how bright that sky is, and then the shadow detail in the foreground.

These next few images were again excavators working on some serious construction down the rd from where we live. Looks like there getting ready to replace the bridges and theirs heavy equipment all over the place just begging to be photographed 😉 I love heavy equipment machines btw encase you didn’t know, ever since I was a little kid I’ve been fascinated with trucks, trains, and heavy equipment of all types. In any event I was using that superior auto mode again. It really does do a great job I must say.

Here is the Auto Portrait Framing mode feature at work with the above image. Certainly not how I would have framed this particular snapshot, but it still gives you the original image so it can’t hurt to have an extra crop thrown in sometimes.

This next image I was inside still using the superior auto mode, and the camera decided to pop up the flash for this snapshot of Layla. Also note the shadow, caused by the large lens, on the very bottom of the frame.

Here’s another Excavator shot with the Highway heading off in the background. Again, thew dynamic range is really high in this photo and the camera decides to not use AutoHDR as it can get it all in one click. Very impressive.

Conclusion:

I think the images speak for themselves and I must stress how good the 24-70mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss lens is. It really does make a difference compared to the “kit” lens in pretty much all categories of image quality. The Lens blur or “bokeh” is incredible, corner sharpness is great and chromatic aberrations are barely noticeable.

The image quality is excellent as always with the Sony cameras, and specific to the A57 16mp sensor is a refined BIONZ™ image processor algorithm to get even more out of the Exmor™ APS HD CMOS sensor. In my opinion they did it, as the JPEGs are less processed than they were on the A77 pre-firmware update as I reviewed it, (Click Here) for my A77 Hands on Review.

The noise reduction and sharpness on the Jpegs is still pretty high compared to the Fuji X-Pro 1 for example, but they seemed to be toned down a bit in my opinion. The colors are right on the money for the most part, although the greens in the Landscape scene are a tad bit over saturated in my opinion.

Stay tuned for many more sample pics and analysis to come with the updated Firmware on the A57!!

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Thanks for the comments 😉 In regards to your question about the 16-50mm lens I think the 24-70mm is significantly better optical quality. The price is actually pretty accurate in regards to that in my opinion, even though it is really expensive. As far as the focal length goes however, I find the 16-50mm better for the crop factor camera bodies like the A57. 24mm is just not wide enough for my style of shooting, but on a Full Frame Camera body it would be great!! I have a 24-105mm lens for my Canon 5d mark II and the 24mm is wide enough on a full frame camera for most stuff, but on a crop facor camera it’s ~36mm on the wide end.

Yes, the a57 is better as it has an upgraded translucent mirror and autofocus system. The build quality is also much better. Image quality is better on the a57, but it would be hard to tell on a print unless the older translucent mirror showed somthing. I never saw anything personally, but I’ve seen pics on web of purple fringing.

Can you please expand on exactly what Superior Auto mode is in terms of the actual way it works? Does it mean you do not get a literal copy of what you photographed, because I thought more than one shot is taken and then merged together to form a supposedly superior variant of the actual image(s) you took?

Would you always recommend having Superior Auto turned on compared to Intelligent Auto? Is there ever a reason when you wouldn’t choose to have it on compared to Intelligent Auto, and could it ever result in a worse shot compared to one of the actual image(s) that are merged?

Thanks for the comments!! Your question is a great and it’s pretty simple. The Superior Auto Intelligent mode adds autoHDR and other muti-frame shooting modes. So when those modes are activated you will want to hold the camera steady and let it do it’s thing. It will fire off many shots depending on the mode and pump out a result for you that usually looks really good. In the meno on the camera you can specify what shooting modes are actually used.

Sometimes you don’t want autoHDR though, so you can turn it off. The auto HDR still gives you the standard exposure frame and the autohdr. So it’s actually 2 shots for that particular mode. The manual is generalizing I think.

I used it often and the camera chose AutoHDR many times on it’s own which I really liked!! The other Auto Intelligent mode is also really good, but doesn’t use the multi-shot modes, which you may prefer.

Superior Auto mode automatically detects the scene you are photographing and adjusts the camera settings accordingly to give ideal results. It also is capable of activating continuous shooting modes for moving subjects and Auto HDR mode if the dynamic range is beyond that of a single frame.